This invention is generally in the field of gas turbine power generation systems. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a stator casing having improved running clearances under thermal load.
Combustion turbines are often part of a power generation unit. The components of such power generation systems usually include the turbine, a compressor, and a generator. These components are mechanically linked, often employing multiple shafts to increase the unit's efficiency. The generator is generally a separate shaft driven machine. Depending on the size and output of the combustion turbine, a gearbox is sometimes used to couple the generator with the combustion turbine's shaft output.
Generally, combustion turbines operate in what is known as a Brayton Cycle. The Brayton cycle encompasses four main processes: compression, combustion, expansion, and heat rejection. Air is drawn into the compressor, where it is both heated and compressed. The air then exits the compressor and enters a combustor, where fuel is added to the air and the mixture is ignited, thus creating additional heat. The resultant high-temperature, high-pressure gases exit the combustor and enter a turbine, where the heated, pressurized gases pass through the vanes of the turbine, turning the turbine wheel and rotating the turbine shaft. As the generator is coupled to the same shaft, it converts the rotational energy of the turbine shaft into usable electrical energy.
The efficiency of a gas turbine engine depends in part on the clearance between the tips of the rotor blades and the inner surfaces of the stator casing. This is true for both the compressor and the turbine. As clearance increases, more of the engine air passes around the blade tips of the turbine or compressor and the casing without producing useful work, decreasing the engine's efficiency. Too small of a clearance results in contact between the rotor and stator in certain operating conditions.
Because the stator and rotor are exposed to different thermal loads and are commonly made of different materials and thicknesses, the stator and rotor expand and shrink differing amounts during operations. This results in the blade and casing having a clearance that varies with the operating condition. The thermal response rate mismatch is most severe for many gas turbine engines during shutdown. This is because rotor purge circuits do not have a sufficient pressure difference to drive cooling flow. This results in a stator casing that cools down much faster than the rotor. Due to thermal expansion, the casing shrinks in diameter faster than the rotor. If a restart is attempted during the time when the casing is significantly colder than the rotor, the mechanical deflection caused by the rotation of the rotor increases the diameter of the rotor, closing the clearance between the rotating and stationary parts (a condition known as “restart pinch”).
Typically, the cold clearance (the clearance in the cold, stationary operational condition) between the blade and the casing is designed to minimize tip clearance during steady-state operations and to avoid tip rubs during transient operations such as shutdown and startup. These two considerations must be balanced in the cold clearance design, but a transient operating condition usually determines the minimum cold build clearance. As such, the steady state blade clearance is almost always greater than the minimum clearance possible.